natalieburg

October 17, 2013October 17, 2013Self-Employment Writing

Creating is one thing; continuing to create is another

There is so much romance in the creation of one’s first thing. Whether it’s a book, a song, a poem or a business, there is an entire industry built upon the encouragement of people’s creative pursuits. And appropriately so, I suppose. It takes a good deal of motivation and knowledge and guts to start and finish a thing, put your name on it and offer it to the world. Good thing we have libraries of books, directories full of experts, and now, newsfeeds full of inspiration quoting memes to motivate us.
While putting something out into the marketplace of ideas to be preyed upon by critics (or worse, ignored by them) is tough, I’ve found it to be more of a challenge to put that second, third or twenty-eighth thing out there. After being criticized, ignored or even praised for one’s creation, a bar has been set. It may be high or it may be low, but either way, you’re back a square one, right where you were before you created, but without the excitement/encouragement industry behind you. You’re just someone who wants to make a thing, but without the hype or anticipation or mystery you started with the first time.

But we keep going. We write the another article for that publication, even when the last one was criticized. We start outlining the next project, even though there’s no one standing behind us, cheering or directing our sails. We do it because we are creators and it’s what we’re driven to do. We realize that the Creativity Industrial Complex wasn’t what made our first thing; we did. We do it knowing that it may not be this thing, or the next, but maybe even the fourteenth or twenty-second thing that catches, that dazzles people, that really reflects who we are and what we intend to contribute.

We keep creating because we know that only a fraction of the would-be creators manage to put out their first thing, and only a fraction of those who do keep creating. It is hard to keep the fire alive, the gears in motion, the pedal to the floor, or whatever motivational cliche does it for you. Even though it take an entirely different sort of momentum, one that comes from deep within ourselves rather than outside forces, we find that place and we focus on it. It’s a quiet, internal place, with little romance, with no instructions and no one to keep us company. It’s where we find our reasons to keep going. It’s the same place from which our next great thing will emerge. We might as well get cozy there.

October 15, 2013October 15, 2013General Life Whatnot Writing

Working through trials to find a bit of treasure

Today has been..[sigh]…a day. In the last 48 hours, the number of people who have totally flaked on scheduled interviews with me can barely be counted on one hand. They have caused me stress, wasted my time, made me miss deadlines and some actually cost me money. This happens on occasion, but rarely does it occur multiple times on the same day, much less then same project, which a couple of these instances were. Not all though. For whatever reasons, multiple sources from multiple stories for multiple publications all decided to hate me at the same time.
On a scale that includes world hunger and human rights abuses, my day hasn’t been that bad, but as I finally gave up and turned in the pieces in question, I felt the unsettled ache in my stomach of a passing nightmare. It was over, but it was still pretty bad. I might have had a little cry. I’ll probably soak in the tub in a bit, but first I had to share this little piece of wonderful that came out of the misery.

When a needed interview vanishes hours before a deadline, a writer must take to the internet to find “web content.” This is no easy task. There might be dozens of articles, blogs and websites that would prove the right point or support the narrative at hand, but the tricky thing about being a journalist is the source and quality of the content matters. The source has to be verifiable, legitimate, etc. For this piece, I was searching everywhere from business news sites to eBay, and it was on eBay – where treasures are known to be found – that I encountered back copies of GMC Truck News, a General Motors magazine that was once in print. It was written by R.A. Sumpter, also known as Robert Sumpter, also known as my grandfather.
My aunt recently gave me a copy of GMC Truck News that Grandpa had given her before he died. She wanted me to have it, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. It’s not just that I am also a writer. I also, 50 years later, write a good deal of branded content for companies, very similar to what he did for General Motors. It wasn’t something I aspired to, it was just one of those lucky things I stumbled upon. Though I can’t ask him, as he died 15 years ago, I believe he would have said the same thing.

And as it turns out, there are more volumes of his work available on eBay. I sort of want to buy them all up. I might. Whether or not I do though, it feels so wonderful to know that his work is still out there, in the same industry as mine, and that I even had an assignment that caused the paths of our work to cross. That no-good, super-annoying, tear-inducing horror of an assignment. That I am so glad I received.

October 11, 2013Feminism

Challenge cynicism on the International Day of the Girl

It doesn’t take much effort to find feminism cynics out there. In fact, it’s pretty darn easy to find cynics of every variety. Sometimes it’s hard to even see past the blanket of cynicism that hangs over nearly everything. It’s easier to say feminism (or healthcare reform or food stamps, etc.) is unneeded, unwarranted, overblown or downright evil than it is to accept that we live in a challenging world that requires us to examine our beliefs and behaviors and move out of our comfort zones to make life better for others. I get that. It’s tough, and the evidence is everywhere.

What did surprise me though, was a feature on Malala Yousafzai on BBC radio this week. The first half of the report included people from her hometown in Pakistan talking about how her reputation was overblown, raising suspicions about whether or not the girl who was so famously shot in the head for standing up for her right to go school was even injured at all, and generally stating that she shouldn’t come back. While their cynicism was shocking enough, as the BBC reporter transitioned into her interview with Malala, she said she was actually surprised to discover what a poised, sincere and believable young woman she was.

Really? You’re surprised that a teenager who stood up for girls’ right to education against the Taliban, faced an assassination attempt, recovered from a bullet to the head and is still actively campaigning is a sincere person? That is a surprise? In what world could such a person be anything but?

Today, for International Day of the Girl, we’re asked to think about human trafficking of women and girls, the oppression of rights and a great deal of suffering. None of it is easy to consider. It is easier to believe that it doesn’t really occur, or that it’s not really that bad or that there is nothing we can do to change it if it does. If we can do one thing to honor International Day of the Girl, it should be to challenge this cynicism. It should be to allow ourselves to believe in the sincerity of these struggles and those are fighting against them.

I we would be amazed by the difference that could be made by simply opening our minds. Just believing that struggles of others exist and that they are not the fault of those struggling. If we can give this day the benefit of the doubt, perhaps we can learn to apply that to all areas our lives. Maybe we can recognize the struggles of others as an opportunity to make the world better, not an affront to our own comfort. Maybe then, after we’re able to wrap out minds around it, we’ll start moving toward becoming a world about which we can say sincerely, rather than cynically, that this kind of suffering and inequality doesn’t exist. We’re just not there yet.